Houses are quickly becoming less affordable

Housing affordability in the US fell 29% over the last year, the sharpest decline in recorded history, per the National Association of Realtors Home Affordability Index.

📈 Driving unaffordability… Two main things: surging housing prices and rising mortgage rates.

• Home prices posted their biggest ever year-over-year gain in March (+20.6%), while the rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has risen from under 3% to more than 5% over the past year.
• 95% of the 100 largest US housing markets were less affordable last month than their long-term levels, up from just 6% at the start of the pandemic, according to data from analytics firm Black Knight.
• The total volume of mortgage applications fell 6.5% last week compared with the previous week, reaching its lowest level in 22 years.

🏘️ Zoom out: Sales of new single-family homes fell for the fourth straight month in April, reaching its lowest level since the first full month of the pandemic.